The 2009 Ford Fiesta Championship Champion, David Ellesley, has announced that he is to leave saloon racing behind by joining the MSA Formula Ford Championship of Great Britain grid in a 2007 spec Spirit chassis run by Spirit Engineering and Steve Wills, the founding member of the marquee.
The 23 year old from Suffolk has never raced a single seater before; his whole career to date has been in tin tops, starting off in Autocross.
Ellesley, who in 2010 will be working with organisations such as the Andy Priaulx Performance Management and David Mayes of Perfect Fit, in a bid to improve himself and make his transition from saloon car racer to single seater racer.
David has said that Formula Ford is where he wants to be, and even though he's got a steep learning curve, the team he has chosen will help him with the transition – he said “This will certainly be a first for me, and it’s all very exciting. I have a lot to learn about Formula Ford but I’ve joined a team with huge experience and that will benefit me greatly. Formula Ford is where I want to be, and this is a cost-effective option for me. Hopefully I can bring something to the team to help them with their plans for a new car”
The deal which brought David to the team was down to the team building a new chassis for the 2011 season, which they need David's development skills for. Steve Wills reckons the car has the potential “We need to get back out there, have a good time and give it a good go. The car has the potential but has never really had much of a chance to show it.”
Wills is hoping to have the new chassis up and running before the season's end and have youngster Richard Studdart at the wheel.
